Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Eagle Who Thought He Was A Chicken

Our HR dept is fond of sending out emailed short stories with morals in them to all executives.  I thought the following original story wasn't dramatic enough and didn't have a proper ending, so I edited it and gave it a better ending and changed the moral as well.... 
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The Chicken

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain, causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain to a chicken farm located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds."

The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them.  
Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done.   That is what the eagle learned to believe.

The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chickenBut somehow he knew somewhere inside him there was an eagle waiting to soar into the skies.  

One day there was a lot of crying and screaming on the chicken farm.  All the chickens were flapping their wings and running around.  Feathers and dust flew about in every direction.  The eagle who was brought up as a chicken ran out to see what was happening.  It seems the chicken farm was under attack by a lone eagle from the mountain who was catching and taking away baby chickens. 

On his next attack he was surprised at meeting up with a chicken who dared to face him and prevented him from taking anymore baby chickens. 

"Stop!"  Said the eagle who was brought up as a chicken.  "You will not take anymore of my little brothers and sisters away."

"Hahaha!"  The eagle from the mountain laughed with scorn in his voice.   "And who do you think you are.  Are you trying to stop me?  What can you do stop me?  You are only a chicken!"

"I may only be a chicken, but I am going to stop you from attacking my family.  Someone has to do it.  And I am that someone."   He declared.

He immediately jumped at the eagle from the mountain, scratching and pecking at his face.  The eagle from the mountain was surprised that a chicken could move so fast and attack so fiercely.  Slightly wounded, he backed off and flew into the sky.  The eagle who was brought up as a chicken made a final jump at him with his sharp claws.   At the same time he opened his wings to balance himself.  He was surprised to see his own huge wings and also found that he could fly after the eagle from the mountain.  He chased the eagle all the way into the mountains.

Finally, satisfied that his family was safe he flew back and soared around in the sky over the farm.  He was greeted by a loud cheer from his adopted family. 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY:  

Don't judge yourself by the names they call you.  Know yourself and be the best of what you are.

14 comments:

  1. my ending:

    Upon realising that he is unlike other normal chickens, the eagle went for some soul searching to find his true identity and regaining back his roots. After some months and realising that he is a true eagle, he went back to the chicken farm, and turn against his family. He is afterall an eagle: and eagles eat chickens.

    Moral:
    Eagles eat chickens...

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  2. what was the original ending and the moral of the original story ?

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  3. original ending: the poor eagle believed he was a chicken, grew old and died a chicken.
    bad moral...

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  4. Other morals to this story should be:
    1. Don't let your dreams be known to those you know will shoot it down.
    2. Our true self (worth) is known only when there is a crisis.
    3. Don't push a "chicken" too far...
    4. Don't believe a guy's chicken just because everybody says so.
    5. Not all eggs hatch out to be chickens.

    you can think of more....

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  5. What kind of HR department do you have?? What a horrible story to circulate! What are they implying? That "chickens" or "eagles" in your company are doomed? I sure hope you counter circulated your version which is much, MUCH better!

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  6. HAHAHA.. even THAT is better than the original version.. atleast this one's funny!

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  7. haha~i think the HR didn't even read the story properly. bad story with that kind of ending..

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  8. nah...forget it. I've done that before...the guys there simply copy and paste stories from elsewhere and say they can't change it... it's 'policies'.

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  9. errr... really not that fantastic.Yours was much better!

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  10. haha...thanks folks, I appreciate that. My nature to be routing for the underdog, and never giving up without trying

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  11. another story behind the story..huh..sad..
    people used to changed for survival , and most of us lose something in the progress.

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  12. Thanks! You are a great story-teller! Take care and thanks for sharing! Cheers

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  13. A more realistic ending : the chickens ended up on dinner tables, fried, barbecued, and what-not.
    The eagle was noticed by someone who recognised him to be an eagle, bought and sold to a petshop, and he ended his days in a little cage.













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  14. MWS: thanks for dropping by.
    Blur222: good try! ;)

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